Stamford Public Schools August 27, 2015 Stamford Public Schools Stamford, CT Is this a fragment or a sentence? 2. The Noun Palette 3. Parts of Speech: “Owner’s Manuals” 4. Morphology Charting 5. Adjective to Verb: Grammar Meets Textual Evidence 6. Sentence Combining: A Classroom Visual Amy Benjamin www.amybenjamin.com @amybenjamin1 http://www.pinterest.com/amybenjamin0802/

? I teaching grammar. I never “really” learned it. Shouldn’t they already have had this in the lower grades? Do kids really have to learn all these terms? I loved it! I thought diagramming sentences was fun! There’s no interesting way to teach grammar. It’s just drill and workbook. M

Grammar as the study of linguistics (Learning grammar to understand the inner workings of a language) Teaching Writing: Meeting the reader’s needs; self- expression; content, organization, diction, absence of distracting errors, establishing credibility, appropriate style, personal voice…

Grammar as the study of linguistics Teaching Writing

I. II. Cesar Chavez helped the farm workers. He advocated for them. He did not encourage violence. He led a boycott instead of violence. The boycott was an effective method of resistance. (30) Cesar Chavez helped the farm workers, and he advocated for them. He did not encourage violence. He led a boycott instead of violence, and the boycott was an effective method of resistance. (32) III. Grammatical choices elevate style. Appositive: ,advocate for farm workers, Parallel structure (encouraging…leading (not by….but by Adjective clause: , which was… Cesar Chavez, advocate for farm workers, helped them not by encouraging violence, but by leading a boycott, which was an effective method of resistance. (24)

GRAMMAR IN THE HEART OF THE WRITING PROCESS: Sharpen your nouns Minimize your modifiers Replace BE verbs and weak verbs with strong action verbs Achieve parallel structure Combine sentences: create complex sentences use appositives use absolutes Expand and shrink noun phrases. Turn clauses into modifying phrases. Decide where to place modifiers for desired effect. Point of intervention for substantial language improvement Pre-writing experience: (non-sentence form) Drafting Revising Editing Publication Point of intervention for surface error correction

(Declarative) Sentence Completeness Frogs catch flies. With their sticky tongues. Frogs are amphibians. This frog started life in the water as a tadpole. That’s an interesting fact. I like frogs. I have never, to my knowledge, eaten a fly.

Clause: Subject + Verb Independent Clause: Can stand alone as a sentence Dependent (aka subordinate) clause: Cannot stand alone as a sentence Who or what? Subject Wheel What about it? Predicate Wheel

Noun: Owner’s Manual Congratulations on your wise purchase of a NOUN. Your NOUN may be used to fit into the following frame: The____________. Your NOUN is used to name people, places, things, ideas, qualities, states of mind, and all kinds of other things that need naming. Your NOUN may be easily converted into an adjective. All you have to do is put another NOUN after it and have it make sense. (COW pasture, for example). Your NOUN may be the kind of NOUN that can be made plural. Only NOUNS may be made plural. Your NOUN may be able to be made possessive by adding ‘s. Only NOUNS may be made possessive. When you make your NOUN possessive, it becomes an adjective. You may add all kinds of modifiers before and after your NOUN. You may replace your NOUN along with its modifiers with a pronoun. Feel free to use your NOUN as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object complement, object of a preposition, appositive, or predicate noun Your noun may be called a nominal when we consider it together with its modifiers.

My Noun Palette Proper Nouns: Concrete Nouns: Abstract Nouns: -tion,-sion,-ism,-ence, -ance, -ness, -ment, -itude

Morphology Kit -ment -ness -ation, sion -ity -ism -hood -itude -ence This “Morphology Kit” is a great way to expand vocabulary because most of the words created by these suffixes express abstract ideas. Noun-Making Suffixes Verb-Making Suffixes Adjective-making suffixes -ment -ness -ation, sion -ity -ism -hood -itude -ence -ance -ide -ate -ify -ize -acious,icious -y -ous, ious -ant -able, ible -er; est Adverb-making suffix: -ly 5

Adjective: Owner’s Manual Congratulations on your wise purchase of an ADJECTIVE. Your ADJECTIVE may be used to fit into the following frame: The______________truck Or The truck was very_________. Your ADJECTIVE likes to answer the question What kind? If your ADJECTIVE doesn’t fit into either of these frames, maybe it is the kind of ADJECTIVE that answers the questions Which one? or How many? Your ADJECTIVE may be capable of using the suffixes –er in the comparative form and – est in the superlative form. (If your ADJECTIVE doesn’t like these suffixes, just use more and most to accomplish comparison or superiority.) Your ADJECTIVE reports to your NOUN, and your NOUN can easily become an ADJECTIVE to another NOUN. Often, groups of words decide to get together and do ADJECTIVE-like work. We call such groups of words ADJECTIVALS, and they may be phrases or clauses that operate just like ADJECTIVES, answering those questions that ADJECTIVES answer.

Verb: Owner’s Manual Congratulations on your wise purchase of a VERB. Your VERB may be used to fit into the following frame: To______________ Your VERB is the part of the sentence that is capable of turning the sentence into a negative. It is also the part of the sentence that changes when you add yesterday or right now. (If your sentence does not change when you add yesterday to it, then your sentence is in the past tense. If your sentence does not change when you add right now to it, then it is in the present tense.) Your VERB may be an action verb or a linking verb. Action verbs may take direct objects and are modified by adverbs. Linking verbs take predicate nouns and predicate adjectives. You can easily find a list of linking verbs. Your VERB may take auxiliaries (forms of have, be) and modal auxiliaries (could, should, would, can, will, shall, may, might, must). Your VERB sometimes uses a form of the word do to create a sentence, to emphasize, to negate, or to stand in for itself, as in: Do you think so? Yes, I do.

Verb: Owner’s Manual Congratulations on your wise purchase of a VERB. Your VERB may be used to fit into the following frame: To______________ Your VERB is the part of the sentence that is capable of turning the sentence into a negative. It is also the part of the sentence that changes when you add yesterday or right now. (If your sentence does not change when you add yesterday to it, then your sentence is in the past tense. If your sentence does not change when you add right now to it, then it is in the present tense.) Your VERB may be an action verb or a linking verb. Action verbs may take direct objects and are modified by adverbs. Linking verbs take predicate nouns and predicate adjectives. You can easily find a list of linking verbs. Your VERB may take auxiliaries (forms of have, be) and modal auxiliaries (could, should, would, can, will, shall, may, might, must). Your VERB sometimes uses a form of the word do to create a sentence, to emphasize, to negate, or to stand in for itself, as in: Do you think so? Yes, I do.

Adverb: Owner’s Manual Congratulations on your wise purchase of an ADVERB. Your adverb may be used to tell where, when, or how. Adverbs that tell where may be replaced by the word there: We drove south for two miles. (We drove there for two miles.) Adverbs that tell when may be replaced by the word then: We ate lunch late. (We ate lunch then.) Adverbs that tell how often end in –ly and may be replaced by the words like this: He joined the team eagerly. (He joined the team like this.) You may move your adverbs around in the sentence. If you do, you’ll want to set them off with commas. Often, groups of words decide to get together to do ADVERB-like work, and when they do, we call these groups of words ADVERBIALS. ADVERBIALS may be phrases or clauses that do the work that adverbs do.

Morphology Chart NOUNS: VERBS: ADJECTIVES: ADVERBS: They will fit into this frame: The_____. VERBS: They will fit into this frame: To____ or Can____or Is____ ADJECTIVES: They will fit into this frame: The ________truck ADVERBS: They will fit into this frame: Do it ___________. Nouns answer the question: What? or Who? Verbs answer the question: What is it doing, having, feeling, or being? Adjectives answer the question: What kind? (They may also answer the questions Which one? and How many? but those kinds of adjectives do not fit into the frame of The______truck. Adverbs answer any of these questions: Where? When? Why? To what extent? How?

Vocabulary List: Character Behaviors and Feelings First, decide which adjectives below describe the behaviors and feelings of one character in the book you are reading. Then, write a sentence that gives an example of how the character shows this behavior or feeling. curious dejected despondent detached determined discouraged ecstatic elated embarrassed enthusiastic excited foolish fortunate frantic friendly frustrated furious grateful addled afraid agitated ambivalent annoyed antagonistic anxious apprehensive baffled belligerent bewildered boastful bored calm cautious concerned confident confused helpful helpless hopeful hostile humiliated hurried inadequate independent introspective insecure interested intrigued intuitive involved irate jittery lighthearted lucky mischievous mixed-up moody mystified nervous optimistic overwhelmed perplexed puzzled proud relieved resentful responsible satisfied scared secure sullen surprised sympathetic talkative tense thoughtful thrilled trapped troubled uncomfortable undecided uneasy vexed victimized worried zany I will ask teachers to think of a character from a book and select three adjectives describing that character. For each of the three adjectives, there should be a verb that tells what the character does to prove that the adjective is valid. 20

Clause: Subject + Verb Independent Clause: Can stand alone as a sentence I raised the seat on my bike. Dependent (aka subordinate) clause: Cannot stand alone as a sentence …so I raised the seat on my bicycle. …because I raised the seat on my bicycle. …as I raised the seat on my bicycle. …when I raised the seat on my bicycle. …how I raised the seat on my bicycle.

Common Hitching Devices Coordinating Conjunctions Subordinating Conjunctions As, although, after While, when Until Because, before If AAAWWUBBI Can hitch up to an independent clause, creating a subordinate (dependent) clause, forming complex sentence. Can appear after main clause (no comma) or before main clause (needs a comma) Conjunctive Adverbs However Moreover Therefore Furthermore Can move within own clause; Requires commas on both sides Warning: If you wish to use these to join clauses, you must use a semicolon. Relative Pronouns That Which Who, whom What Where Why How Whichever Whatever, etc. Can join clauses Warning: Many sentence fragments begin with these words. Usually, you must hitch these words and the clauses that they introduce to your previous sentence. And But So Or/nor Can join two independent clauses to make a compound sentence. Warning: You must use a comma with these when they join independent clauses.